BARRIE - Guitar, double bass, viola, piano, cello, clarinet, percussion and ukulele.
These are just a few of the instruments 17-year-old Julie Choi can play.
“I am able to play by ear, so I can pick an instrument up and just go for it. I hear things that other people might not, so playing an instrument comes easily to me,” she said.
The Eastview Secondary School student recently picked up the Most Promising Youth Award from the Barrie Arts Awards.
She said she was shocked when she won the Barrie Arts Award.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all. I knew my teacher Mrs. Dinsmore had nominated me, and I knew I had made the shortlist, but I didn’t think I had a chance,” she said. “I was so shocked I didn’t have a speech prepared, I didn’t know what to say, so I just said thanks.”
Choi received the highest mark in the province on her Grade 7 cello exam with 93 per cent.
She was named Star of the Festival for Senior Piano and Junior Winds at the Fredericton Music Festival in 2008.
Choi sings with the Lyrica Chamber Choir, performs with Huronia Symphony and teaches private music lessons.
Most recently, she received First Class Honours with Distinction on her Royal Conservatory of Music Grade 10 Piano Examination with a 92 per cent mark.
At Eastview, Choi performs piano, cello and percussion with the senior orchestra and string ensemble. She also finds time to accompany the concert choir and chamber choir.
And that’s not all. When she isn’t playing music, Choi is Vice President of the student council, a member of the student government, a member of the LINK crew and on the student morning announcement team.
She does all this while maintaining a 90-per-cent average.
“I like to be busy,” Choi said.
While the multi-instrumentalist enjoys playing all instruments, her favourite, by far, is the piano.
“I like how you can play more than one part at once,” she said. “With the cello you are often just playing one line in the symphony, with the piano you can be the whole song.”
Choi said the best part of being able to play for others.
“I play at Hospice Simcoe and at Whispering Pines and I like it because I don’t play classical music,” she said. “It’s a nice change to have to learn songs for fun, songs I won’t ever compete with. I like the challenge.”